We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and a safe Black Friday. Special thanks to everyone who put together this past weekend’s Night of Lights festival at the Halagueno Arts Park and Electric Light Parade.

Carlsbad MainStreet and Creative Carlsbad managed to outdo themselves with what has always been one of Carlsbad’s best celebrations.

We also appreciate all of the City of Carlsbad employees who made it possible.

Since this is Thanksgiving weekend, it is an excellent time to reflect on what we are all thankful about in Carlsbad this year.

We’re blessed and thankful to have such an amazing community of faith. We had around 1,000 people at this year’s prayer breakfast representing numerous churches of all denominations. Ron Griffith does an amazing job every year.

We’re thankful to live in a community that supports its veterans. This year’s Veterans Day parade and ceremony were excellent, and special credit goes to Alberto Villegas and everyone with the Patriotic Society for bringing it all together.

We’re thankful to live in a country where we have a right to vote and an election process in which the transition of power is a peaceful process. We look forward to working with our new elected officials, appreciate our outgoing officials for their service and congratulate everyone on having the courage to run. Special thanks to outgoing County Commissioners James Walterscheid and Stella Davis for their service to the citizens of Eddy County. We also want to thank Congressman Steve Pearce, Gov. Susana Martinez and Lt. Gov. John Sanchez for their support for southeastern New Mexico.

We’re thankful to have a community that comes together when there is a time of need. This spring, John Heaton, Don Purvis, George Veni, as well as members of our legislative delegation, spearheaded a successful community effort to remediate the South Y brine well. Numerous Carlsbad residents drove to Santa Fe, wrote letters and made phone calls in support of this effort.

While Carlsbad is in a period of growth with many challenges, we are thankful to have a community with so many dedicated volunteers. John Heaton also chairs our nuclear task force. Roxanne Lara and Steven McCutcheon are leading our roadway task force. Oran Means chairs our Blue Ribbon Housing Commission, with mayor pro tem Eddie Rodriguez as co-chair. Jeff Diamond has been pushing for the restoration of rehabilitation facility for women with children.

While Carlsbad’s growth spurt is presenting challenges, we should also recognize the fact that thousands of families have food on the table due to what is going on in this busy area. The hard work going on right here is also funding education across the entire state.

Of course, there are so many amazing charitable efforts going on at this time of the year. Just to name a few, you have Faith, Hope and Love’s Christmas Shoppe, toy runs by the Brotherhood of the 74 and MSI, Christmas Anonymous, Packs for Hunger, the Assistance League’s Tree Auction, the United Way’s Fun Run, the Girl Scouts turkey drive and so many, many more. This community also has inspirational young people such as Zoe Rhoades and her Giving Tree.

We’re also thankful to have so many generous partners in the community. Just last week, for example, Mosaic, XTO, NWP, Oxy and Chevron all announced major charitable contributions to a variety of projects in the area. Organizations such as the Permian Strategic Partnership will help Carlsbad and surrounding communities with major infrastructure issues.

We’re thankful to have so much enthusiasm for arts and culture in Carlsbad through Creative Carlsbad and so many more organizations.

We are thankful to live in an area with so much natural beauty. Not many places in the world are right next to two national parks, two state parks and a state forest. The Guadalupe Ridge Trail is bringing all that together.

We’re thankful that San Jose Boulevard is back open, and we’re told Standpipe will be open shortly.

We’re thankful to live in a community that provides opportunities to so many young professionals who want to come back to town, talented individuals such as Natasha Mackey with Carlsbad Municipal Schools and Missi Currier with XTO. Now we just need to help them all find a place to live.

We’re thankful to have such a great workforce with the City of Carlsbad – professionals always willing to go the extra mile. It is an honor to serve this amazing community.

Most of all, I’m of course extremely thankful for my wife, Cheryle, our three children, Scott, Robin and Steven, and our eight grandchildren. Thank you all for making me the most fortunate person in the world.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please call 575-887-3798.

“TAKE PRIDE IN CARLSBAD”

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